A Breakthrough for Acute Leukemia Patients!

In 10 seconds? A series of studies have shown promise for a new treatment for acute leukemia. Even though this treatment is hot off the press, researchers already understand why some patients may develop resistance to treatment and have started working on how to counteract it.

What’s the story? Acute leukemias represent several subsets of blood cancer that impact both children and adults. It has been discovered that over 30% of acute leukemia cases are driven by specific genetic alterations, which impact cancer cells’ epigenetics. (As a reminder, our epigenetics dictates which genes get turned ON and OFF). Subsequently, these genetic alterations in acute leukemia patients lead to the activation of multiple genes that promote cancer’s growth–a process that hinges on a protein called menin. All these findings led to the development of revumenib–a drug that inhibits menin’s pro-cancer activity.